Rodriguez Considers 205

My interest in the career of Ricco
Rodriguez waned right around the time he decided to subject
himself to a stint on VH-1’s “Celebrity Rehab,” a ghoulish voyeur
drama masquerading as an earnest therapy opportunity. (Doctor Drew
Pinsky, so studious in his glasses and forlorn expressions, is the
Crypt Keeper with a doctorate. If there’s any justice at all, his
rotting corpse will have a 24/7 video feed. But I digress.)

Rodriguez looked lost there, as he had ever since Tim Sylvia
ended what looked to be a promising future as the UFC’s heavyweight
champion back in 2003. Losses to Pedro Rizzo
and Antonio Nogueira followed; rather than start at the bottom of
the pay scale ladder in a major show, Rodriguez opted for the
frequent checks on the sandbagging minor leagues circuit. When he
popped up against credible competition, he dropped decisions.

Worse than any of those losses, he simply stopped being
relevant.

Rodriguez now tells the WCF Courier (via MMAFighting’s Mike
Chiappetta) that he’s far enough removed from his 350 lb. low point
to consider a run at 205 lbs. for a UFC title. To prove he’s at
least a little serious, Rodriguez knocked out Travis Fulton
in Iowa on Saturday.

Two things about his comment: for a fighter, reinvention is as
necessary from a psychological standpoint as it is from a rational
one. An in-shape Rodriguez was a solidly built man of 230-ish lbs.
A drop to 205 isn’t so necessary, other than for him to feel like
he’s wiped a slate clean. While he may feel like he’s avoiding the
kind of smothering wrestling practiced by Brock
Lesnar, he’s really trading one problem (big men) for another
(fast men). Rodriguez was not exactly a blur of fast-twitch
fiber.

The other: that someone as brick-built as Rodriguez feels the need
to escape the heavyweight division points to a serious ripple
effect created by Lesnar and Shane
Carwin, men who routinely have to cut weight to make the 265
lb. limit. They’re now able to get prospective opponents
backpedaling before the bell. (Exceptions: Junior dos
Santos and Cain
Velasquez, both men who could cut to 205 without much problem.)
But Lesnar and Carwin can and will be beaten -- and by process of
elimination, likely by someone smaller in stature.

Threat mitigation as a fighter seems to involve bouncing to the
next weight class down. Yet it’s often fighters moving up a class
(Jake
Shields, Matt Serra,
Randy
Couture) that enjoy the greatest amount of success. Go
figure.

Rodriguez is a very talented guy who could be a danger to most
everyone but instead chose to be a danger to himself. He’s probably
a generation behind the current crop, but you don’t know until you
try. If he fails, there’s always another season with Doctor Drew.